Shadow Ridge stuns Legacy on late kickoff return — PHOTOS
Hawkin Ledingham picked the perfect time to score his first varsity touchdown.
The Shadow Ridge junior returned a kickoff 82 yards for a score in the fourth quarter Friday night to lift the third-seeded Mustangs to a 35-30 road win over No. 2 Legacy in the Class 5A Division II Southern League semifinals.
Shadow Ridge (9-3) will go on the road again to face No. 1 Faith Lutheran (10-0) in the league final at 6 p.m. next Friday.
“I’m just excited,” Ledingham said. “It’s my first touchdown on varsity. I don’t know what to say. I’m just, like, stunned.”
Ledingham’s TD left the crowd at Legacy stunned as well. The Longhorns (7-5) had just driven 80 yards on 12 plays for a 16-yard touchdown run from Zaione Henderson and a 2-point conversion pass to take a 30-29 lead with 4:35 to play.
Ledingham fielded the kick on the run near the right hashmark and found a big hole in the middle of the field before bouncing out toward the left sideline and going untouched for the winning score.
“To have Hawkin make that play, it was so big for him because I know he had a return earlier in the year that he dropped,” Shadow Ridge coach Travis Foster said. “To bring it in and then take it to the house and win this game is huge.”
Ledingham wasn’t the only unlikely hero for the Mustangs. Junior running back Hector Velazquez also came off the bench to make a huge impact in the second half.
Velazquez didn’t have a carry in the first half, but had 123 yards and a touchdown on four second-half touches. He took an inside handoff and chugged 72 yards untouched for a touchdown to give Shadow Ridge a 29-22 lead with 11:29 to play.
“When people start packing the box and trying to pipe gaps, it takes one seam,” Foster said. “A little misdirection, counter motion, get everybody flowing in the wrong direction, and he was able to run away from them tonight.”
On Velasquez’s first carry, he ripped off a 41-yard run, moving the ball into Legacy territory. He appeared to fumble at the end of the play, and Legacy’s Dejuan Robinson recovered and seemed to be set for a big return. But the officials blew the play dead and ruled that Velasquez was down.
Six plays later, Tyrell Craven scored on a 12-yard run, and Velasquez tacked on the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 22 with 3:05 to go in the third quarter.
Legacy had a final shot to retake the lead after Ledingham’s TD, and the Longhorns got a break when Shadow Ridge was called for pass interference on fourth-and-10, moving the ball to midfield. Robinson caught an 8-yard pass from Aidan Crawford, but the Longhorns were stopped for no gain, then Crawford threw two incomplete passes to end the drive.
Shadow Ridge took over with 1:57 to play and was able to run out the clock. The win avenged a 43-14 loss to the Longhorns in the regular season.
“It’s one of those things where you lose the first time, and we’ve been looking at this game for the last four weeks,” Foster said. “That doesn’t happen when you win and stuff gets swept under the rug. You don’t correct everything you should. To fix those mistakes and come back and beat a good football team is a big deal.”
Craven finished with 65 yards on five carries for Shadow Ridge, which didn’t complete a pass.
Crawford completed 21 of 41 passes for 302 yards and two TDs. Dominic Oliver had 11 catches for 167 yards and a score for Legacy.